A Touch of Delirium
by Cerulean.Phoenix7
Summary: A little harmless fun takes a slightly different turn. Written for the VAMB "Delirium" challenge.
1. Delirium

A/N: A little something that I wrote for the VAMB 'Delirium' challenge a few months back. Thought I'd dust it off and post it here :)

Thanks to Uroboros75 for the beta.

Disclaimer: No, it's not mine. I just own an overactive imagination and a cat, and I doubt anyone besides me would desperately want those.

* * *

A Touch of Delirium

* * *

"You're _delirious_."

She pauses mid-sip, glass poised at the threshold of her lips as she gives him a quizzical look. A smile curves over her face before she begins chuckling, the glass moving away from her mouth.

"I beg your pardon?" she asks between hiccuping laughs.

He quirks an eyebrow at her, motioning to the wine glass nestled between her fingers. "That's your… what, _fourth _glass? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were as bad with this stuff as you are with coffee."

"Oh, come, Chakotay," she says with another playful grin. "I'm perfectly fine. I'm just enjoying the company of my fellow crew members," she adds with a few grandiose hand gestures.

"I'd say you're enjoying a little more than _that_, Kathryn," Chakotay answers before quickly casting his gaze into his own glass.

When he looks back, her one eyebrow is perking skyward while the other scrunches into her forehead. Her mouth is open and drooping slightly at the one side. If he wasn't already toeing the line of insubordination he would have found her expression hysterical.

She gathers herself after a moment, much longer than he would have expected of her. However, inebriation and enthusiasm seems to have subdued a few of Kathryn Janeway's _usual_ traits.

"Really?"

He manages a nod. "You did say that you saw Tuvok in a flamingo dress and Harry in a sombrero. I'm not even going to ask what you saw _me_ in."

"Nothing I'm willing to admit," she whispers just loud enough so that Chakotay can hear. "Though I'm sure you would have found it flattering."

Chakotay takes a moment to dispel the _very_ inappropriate imagery creeping into his mind. His captain is intoxicated, delirious and definitely asking for a hangover, and yet he's letting _that_ sneak into his mind?

_I really need to ask Tuvok about those meditation techniques_, he thinks as he takes another sip of his own wine. Unlike Kathryn, Chakotay has sipped his wine slowly and avoided intoxication thus far.

Of course, now that Tom has broken out the Romulan Ale, that might all change. He's seen Kathryn's glimpses over to the bottle of blue elixir, and he has a very, _very_ bad feeling about the outcome should she get her hands on it.

"Kathryn," he says, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to get you some water. Wait here for a minute."

He would later swear that he had his back turned for only a moment (to which the Doctor will roll his eyes and give him an accusatory glare) before he heard loud cheers and shouts from the crowd in Sandrines. He now turns, curious and also dreading, to see Kathryn Janeway bounding through the crowd, her legs lifted high up in a dancer's stride as she leaps over them. The euphoria coloring her features is as alluring as it is worrisome, and when she hops up onto the bar and pops open the Ale, Chakotay knows that things are about to take a serious turn in the wrong direction.

"Alright," Janeway shouts, her voice laced with intoxication. "Who wants some?"

The flood of responses makes Chakotay's jaw drop.

She may be caught up in her intoxicated delirium now as she serves up the cerulean brew to her own officers, but in the morning she will definitely be nursing one hell of a hangover.

Kathryn pours a few more glasses and then lifts the bottle up to her lips, drinking up the last dregs of Ale.

Chakotay's face falls into his one free hand with a groan. He sets his own glass aside, thirst lost but certainly not quenched.

_This is the last time I let her make a bet with Paris_, he thinks with a touch of annoyance.

* * *

Part two to follow!


	2. Aftermath

A/N: Part two of the Delirium series.

Thanks to Uroboros75 for the beta :)

* * *

"She's delirious," the Doctor says with a raised eyebrow.

Chakotay raises his own eyebrow in response, resisting the urge to make an impulsive quip about stating the obvious. His hands rest on the side of the bio-bed that is now a caretaker for one Kathryn Janeway.

"Aside from the obvious, is she going to be alright?"

The Doctor runs another scan with his tricorder, remaining silent through its entirety. After a moment, he looks to Chakotay. "Aside from a rather high alcohol concentration in her bloodstream, there is nothing wrong with her. Though she may experience a rather unpleasant headache after the intoxication wears off."

"Somehow, Doctor, that wouldn't surprise me," Chakotay replies briskly.

The Doctor hums a displeased response before putting his tricorder away. He reaches for a hypospray and presses it to Kathryn's neck, where it releases its contents with a slight _hiss_. "I've given her a mild analgesic to help with the pain, although I would suggest that she stay away from coffee when she wakes up."

Chakotay chuckles, moving his hands off the edge of the bed. "That may be more difficult than you realize."

The Doctor lets out a defeated sigh, tossing the hypospray onto the medical tray nearby. "After what I've learned of Captain Janeway's infamously stubborn tendencies, it wouldn't surprise _me_," he says as he steps over to Chakotay. "But nonetheless, I want you to press the issue when she comes to. It won't do her any good if she keeps treating her body like a science experiment!"

Chakotay is a mildly shocked by his choice of words. Though Kathryn has been reckless on occasion, he would hardly call _this _her worst transgression.

The Doctor, apparently having sensed his poor choice of words, grew silent for a long moment. Finally, he made another response, careful and measured like the curve of a feather. "It would probably be best if you escorted the Captain to her quarters so she can rest," he says before retreating back into his office.

Chakotay watches him for a moment, both perplexed and slightly confused before he helps a dazed Kathryn Janeway off the bed and out of Sickbay.

* * *

_I'm delirious_, she thinks, blinking away the fractured starlight in her eyes.

She rises from her bed, an action that she quickly regrets when a fierce pain rips through her skull. She grabs at her temple, as if her mind would break apart if she doesn't hold it all together. She searches her memory for some clue as to _how_ she ended up with this monstrous headache, and as to why she recalls seeing Chakotay in swim shorts, of all things.

She stumbles towards the replicator, groaning at the dizzying pain in her head. "Coffee, black," she mumbles to the device as her quintessential beverage sparkles to life before her. She picks up the cup and takes a large sip of it, relishing the warmth that spreads through her body afterwards.

A chime at her door rings at an undesirable volume a moment later, disrupting her few moments of peace. Quickly inspecting her appearance and judging it to be passable, she answers the door.

Chakotay enters, his expression slightly worried. His face is riddled with shadows, which is the exact moment that Kathryn realizes how very _dark_ it is.

"Computer, raise the lighting three levels," she says, the room instantly growing brighter. The pain in her head flashes fierce like wildfire for a moment before subsiding.

"How are you feeling this morning, Captain?" Chakotay asks tentatively and with more reservation than she cares for.

"Let's just say I've had better days," she mumbles before taking another sip of coffee, tasting more bitterness than before.

"Coffee not up to par?" Chakotay asks, hiding what Janeway suspects is a sly grin.

"No," she replies, setting the cup down. "I just woke up with the worst headache; I haven't had anything like this since some of my more adventurous days at the Academy."

"Well, given the events of last night I'm not surprised," he replies.

Kathryn feels a dead weight plop into her stomach as she tries to remember the previous night, drawing up only the previous images and a plethora of blank spots.

"And just what _events_ are you speaking of?" She asks, treading cautiously.

"You don't remember?" Chakotay asks, raising an eyebrow that wrinkles his tattoo. When she shakes her head in response his face falls, causing her to wonder just _what_ exactly went on last night. "You were drunk," he replies.

It takes a full two minutes to digest his words, and even then she finds herself reaching for the table for support. "I… was _drunk_?"

"Extremely," he replies, barely holding back a grin that she wants to smack off his face.

She lets her head fall into her open palm, letting out a disgruntled sigh as she imagines the absolute _horror_ that must surround the events of last night. "What exactly… _happened_?" she asks after a moment, daring to set her curiosity free.

She watches Chakotay take in a breath and fold his hands behind his back before speaking. "A bunch of the crew went to Sandrines last night to unwind, you and myself included. After you'd had about _four_ glasses of wine, you leapt up onto the bar and started serving shots of Romulan Ale before finishing the bottle yourself."

She turns away from him for an instant, filled with dark and nauseating embarrassment as she clutches her robe close to her body. She feels slightly… _small_ compared to the incredible shame of what she did. She doesn't even want to imagine what it will be like to face the crew on the next duty shift. It's one thing for a captain to relax a little while off-duty, but becoming _drunk_ in front of the crew is another matter entirely.

She brings a hand up to her face, running a finger along the skin beneath her nose. "And after that, what happened?"

"I took you to Sickbay," he answers.

She turns sharply and cuts him off with her own reply. "You told the _Doctor_?"

He sighs and then nods. "Kathryn, I had to be sure that no damage had been done to your body after how much you drank. You may thank him later since he gave you something to help with the hangover."

"Well, tell him it didn't work," she snaps before turning back to the window. She stares out at the distant stars, so very far away and yet within her sights. It reminds her of Earth, and how every time she looks at the pictures of her family she is reminded of just how far they are from her. She fears now that she has distanced herself from her family here on _Voyager_ as well.

"I can't believe I did that, Chakotay," she says softly and hears him approach. "I'm the _captain_. I can't go around acting like a teenager."

She feels a gentle touch on your shoulder, and she turns to see Chakotay's hand there. A moment later, she looks to his face, and is relieved to see it full of compassion.

"Kathryn," he says tentatively. "This wasn't your fault."

She turns fully to face him, letting his hand fall away from her shoulder as her one hand drifts to her chin. "How so?"

"You got drunk because of a bet… that you made with Tom."

She raises an eyebrow in response "And what exactly did this… _wager_ entail?"

He slips a half-smile, igniting another burst of intrigue within her. His dimples are illuminated by the shadows and starlight before he continues.

"It was to see who could eat the most leola root," Chakotay admits, smiling despite his attempts not to.

Her mouth falls open in shock. "And you _let me_?"

He shrugs for a moment. "You _are_ the captain. Although, in the future, you might want to consider something _other_ than drinking games as punishment."

"Agreed," she answers decisively before reaching for her coffee mug. "As for Tom, the next time he suggests such an activity, I will _gently_ remind him of how _desperately_ the plasma manifolds need cleaning, hmm?"

He truly laughs this time, and she smiles at him between sips of coffee.

"Well," he says finally. "I'm due on the Bridge soon, so I'll see you there in a few hours."

"Hours?" she asks incredulously as he heads for the door.

He stops and turns, meeting her glance. "I rearranged the duty shifts this morning, given the events of last night." Then, he was gone.

After a moment, Kathryn sets down the coffee mug and turns back to the stars. There, she lets a truly joyous smile spread across her face.

* * *

_Fin_


End file.
